The Foxtel logo on that iQ1/2 menu has since been changed to the 2012 one though…
Yes. It was part of the Pace software used by many of News Corp’s pay TV subsidiaries.
The orange version above was a refresh of the original version:
Edit: Even the above caps aren’t the original designs. There was a wallpaper/logo that pre-dates this one, and Sky UK had a more solid colour scheme.
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Very Classic, Show Me Some More
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Here’s the original Foxtel Digital background, which was animated at the time, before they made it a still in the version shown in my last post.
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My parents still have the IQ2 set on blue colour EPG.
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That may have only worked with selected boxes? Because from memory, I only ever got to experience the Foxtel Digital EPG with a static background!
I do recall the music being a loop of the same track early on before they switched it to the Lounge(?) AIR channel though.
You could be right. On my original set-top unit it was animated (the rounded edge original model? Forget the name of it) and then when I upgraded to an iQ1, it was the static version with newer logo. There could have very well been a still version of the original background. I also only ever remember the music coming from AIR’s Lounge.
Fun fact: The background never tuned to the actual Lounge channel. It tuned to a special EPG data channel that carried the Lounge music and background, so when you went to the EPG it updated it at the same time. By the time the orange/blue/white version was released, they had worked out a way to no longer need the EPG data channel, which opened up new features they couldn’t do before, like selecting your own background audio and using picture-in-picture while browsing the guide.
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I remember watching this after school was the best thing on tv after school. Live music with a live audience from fox studios. So much fun!
If anyone is interested in the history of channel v https://themusic.com.au/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-foxtels-music-channels-a-timeline/LjghICMiJSQ/24-02-16/
Can’t find any screenshots or even the logo of Red Music but found a couple for channels V
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Also really classic, show me another one
What’s crazy about it being the Pace software, is that that was developed and used by Sky UK in 1998 as well! Crazy how this style of set top box had the simillar-looking UI/UX until the mid-2010s!
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That’s pretty much what the Austar MyStarHD box I had was, but with the red accents with yellow.
It still in use from the iQ Standard to the iQ2 (1TB) models, all according to their respective manual’s.
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Yeah, those remotes were great.
Is it correct that Foxtel’s original satellite boxes from the 1990s still work on the network? From what I understand “Foxtel Digital” was irrelevant to satellite customers other than interactive content because Foxtel had been broadcasting using DVB-S from day one…
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the move to digital was a cable only chnage
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I’ve always wondered about this. I don’t see why not. The only problem would be that I think these STB’s only have a single sat connection which would give you some problems.
Yeah, they’d still technically be able to tune in to the DVB-S channels, but I’m dead certain Foxtel would have removed these boxes from the market soon after Digital launched. Perhaps they kept original boxes in MATV setups for some time?
It’s a bit like Aurora versus VAST. Aurora was always digital, but it only ever offered an analogue experience. Same with Foxtel versus Foxtel Digital. It was more than just the platform used, it was the whole end-user experience. 7-day guide, channel numbers, widescreen, interactivity, box functionality, etc.
Foxtel Digital boxes at launch still only used single sat connections. It wasn’t until the iQ where 2 connections were required.
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